Claude Giroux is now the longest-tenured athlete in Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Eagles, fresh off their Super Bowl championship, are making big-time moves to do it all once again. Part of it was releasing the longest tenured athlete in Philadelphia, Brent Celek, on Tuesday afternoon.

Because of the move, Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux is now the longest tenured athlete in the city. Giroux is just 11 points away from matching his career high in points with 93 – he did that in 2011-2012 when then-head coach Peter Laviolette deemed him the ‘best player in the world’. Giroux made his debut in the 2007-08 season and is now in his 10th full season in the league.

Giroux scored against the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday night, giving him 25 for the season and moving him within three goals from tying his career high of 28, which he did twice at age 24 and 26. Entering the 2017-18 season, Giroux was set to turn 30. Since turning 30 on January 12, Giroux has 30 points in 28 games (11 goals, 19 assists). He should be in the Hart conversation, but probably won’t, and that’s a shame.

Giroux continues to be a force for the Orange and Black. He’s adapting to life in the NHL and is reinventing who he is as a left winger. The Flyers have a ton of young prospects coming up the ranks, but The Captain is still the motor that gets them going. Giroux is going to be the longest tenured athlete in Philadelphia for hopefully a long time.

Giroux made his NHL debut on February 19th, 2008. Now, 10 years and nearly one month later, he is the longest-tenured athlete in Philadelphia. In that time he has compiled 205 goals and 452 assists for 657 points in 726 games over the course of 11 seasons. He is inching closer fourth all-time on the Flyers’ leading scorer list as well.

The Flyers host the Blue Jackets in an important battle on Thursday.

(Photo by Heather Barry / Sons of Penn)

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